WASHINGTON, DC - Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced that about 1,900 local governments around the Nation are receiving a total of $399.8 million under the 2013 Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program.

Today, a bipartisan group of 31 members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Acting Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget concerning the USDA decision to retroactively subject the FY 2012 Secure Rural Schools program funding to sequestration.

On March 20, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced to Congress that due to the enactment of the Budget Control Act – which mandated budget reductions totaling $85 billion for FY13 – that FY 2012 funding for the Secure Rural Schools program is subject to sequestration. The announcement stated, “As mandated by sequestration, we will need to withdraw 5.1 percent of the payment that has already been received or reduce the amount to be dispersed in the coming weeks.” The USDA further stated that “States … will receive a bill for collection to return the sequestered amount to Treasury.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Association of Counties (NACo) today urged the U.S. Senate to extend mandatory funding provisions for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program for fiscal years 2014 and beyond. PILT payments support essential county services including law enforcement, emergency response, transportation infrastructure and access to healthcare.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2013 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

After the most expensive election in U.S. history, President Barack Obama was reelected to a second term. In the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Americans voted to maintain the status quo of split party control — a Democratic-led Senate and Republican-led House — even as more than 90 new faces will grace the halls of Congress.